


Murfree Surprise

by littlestarofthewest (sternchencas)



Series: A Life Full of Surprises [1]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Animal Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Misgendering, Multi, WIP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-07 22:37:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21225386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternchencas/pseuds/littlestarofthewest
Summary: Life is full of surprises. Getting attacked by the Murfrees at night is something you should have seen coming. A surprise, though, is the stranger who's about to save your life in more ways than one.





	Murfree Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> I had a few requests on tumblr asking for a trans male reader, so I decided to put all of them in a multi-chapter fic. I don't have any experience writing a trans character, but I'm doing my best. If you have any suggestions, feel free to talk to me. Also, make sure this is something you want to read. I don't want to trigger anybody or cause any dysphoria.
> 
> The rating will definitely go up, and I will add different ships along the way. If you want to make sure this is something you want to read, you might rather wait until the story is finished.

You know that it's dangerous to travel these parts alone, but you don't feel like you've got much of a choice, needing to hunt or finding another way to make money. The Murfree Brood lives in these woods, and they don't take kindly to strangers. You have your rifle, though, and you've become quite a good shot over the last couple of months. You had to, after all.

It would probably be a good idea to go faster, but you barely had enough money to buy a horse at all. The old mare you're sitting on can still do the job, but you shouldn't ask for too much. Going at a slow trot, you have trouble keeping your eyes open. That's probably why you don't see the signs. Movement in the trees, the reflection of the setting sun on a gun; anything that could have alerted you to your impending doom.

The guy who steps out of the trees is barely able to stand up straight, but he can hold a gun, and he shoots true. Your horse crumbles to the ground with a bullet in its head, and all you can do is make sure you won't end up under it. Instead, you crouch down behind the body and fire a few shots at your assailant before running for cover behind a large tree.

It's not just the one guy who attacks you. There are more men, shouting orders at each other. You lean around the tree and manage to hit two of them while they try to come up with a plan. Then, they decide to wing it, coming at you from all sides. You do your best to shoot the ones that try to circle around you, but there's a whole bunch of them.

For a moment, you consider to run, but bullets hit the trees all around you. You stay where you are, trying to come up with a plan when a shadow jumps out next to you. The guy is waving a machete, and you barely manage to duck the first swing. 

Stumbling back, you lose your rifle, and pull out your knife instead. Not that it'll help you much against a machete. Thinking fast, you throw the knife instead. You manage to hit the guy's throat, and there's no doubt that he'll die, but he keeps stumbling forward, the machete making an arch in your direction.

At the last second, something hits the blade, and it changes direction, only gracing your arm instead of piercing your body. You hear the sound of hooves on the ground, and as you look up, you see a man on a huge black horse approaching at full speed. He has his gun raised, and you wonder if he was crazy enough to shoot at the machete.

As the stranger comes closer, he puts the gun back in its holster, picking up a rifle from the satchel of his horse. Without slowing down, he rides past your attackers, and you hear how bullets meet flesh, followed by the dull sounds of bodies hitting the ground. Staying low, you crawl back to your rifle. The cut on your arm burns like hell, but you still lean forward to watch the fight. 

The stranger has brought his horse around, taking a second tour around your attackers. There aren't many left. One of them jumps out from behind the trees, trying to cut at the legs of the stranger's horse. You feel a rush of adrenalin searching through you. When you aim, everything slows down for a moment, and you manage to take down the attacker with a headshot, something that you've rarely been able to do before.

The rest of the Murfrees finally have enough. They run away through the trees while the stranger keeps firing at them. He takes down three more, obviously not shy to shoot someone in the back. You sink back against the tree, breathing slowly to counter the dizziness that tries to take hold of you. 

Silence falls over the woods again, only broken by the sounds of the stranger's horse. He comes around the tree and jumps to the floor. The rifle still in his hands, he walks over and crouches down beside you.

"You alright, ma'am?" he asks, and your insides turn at the word.

"Mister," you say harshly, trying to get to your feet.

"What?"

"It's mister, not ma'am."

You stumble, and the stranger grabs your arm to keep you from falling over. He watches your face for a long moment, and you get to do the same. His hat is drawn deep into his face, but you still get to marvel at his shining eyes, and your eyes are drawn to his full lips, surrounded by a nice stubble that covers his cheeks.

"What's your name then?" the stranger asks.

"Y/N," you say, pulling your arm out of his grip. The last thing you want is to seem weak. "Yours?"

"Arthur," he says, still watching you intensely. "You don't look so good, mister. Did they hit you?"

"Just the cut on my arm."

"Can you walk?"

"I'll have to, won't I?" you grunt, pointing at the dead horse on the ground.

Arthur takes in the scene and puts his rifle over his shoulder. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

His words sound so genuine that they hit something deep inside of you, and you realize how rude you are.

"I'm sorry," you say, pointing at yourself. "You saved my life, and I'm an asshole. Thank you so much for your help."

"S'alright. I know how nasty these bastards can be," Arthur says, kicking the nearest Murfree with his boot. "Can I take you somewhere?"

"I didn't really have a destination, to be honest." You shrug helplessly. It's dawning on you that your chances at survival took a nosedive. "Spent my last money on that horse, and now…"

Arthur watches you for a moment, but when you don't say more, he waves you along. "It's getting late anyway. Better to make camp. Just not here. Take what you need, and let's get out of here."

You grab your saddlebag, and since you're desperate, you walk around and search the Murfrees for anything useful. After a short moment, Arthur joins in, and without comment, he hands his findings over to you. 

"Let's go then," he says, whistling for his horse. 

The second it's beside him, he swiftly gets into the saddle, holding a huge hand out to you. You grab it and try not to think about how firm his grip is, and what those hands could do to you. Sitting behind Arthur, it dawns on you how broad and muscular he is. From your position, you can't put your arms fully around him, so you hold on to his jacket.

"Ready?" he asks, looking at you over his shoulder.

You nod, and you take off quickly, Arthur letting his horse find a way through the trees. He only stops when it's getting dark, and you have more mountains than trees around you. It's unlikely for the Murfrees to attack here.

Arthur helps you off his horse before taking off his bedroll and searching in his saddlebags for provisions. 

"You think you can build a fire?" he asks, looking up into the sky. "I think I wanna put up my tent. Looks like rain."

Looking into the sky, you have no idea what he's talking about, but he sounds sure. He must be someone who's used to sleeping outside. Following his lead, you walk around the area to pick up firewood. By the time you get the fire burning, Arthur has set up a tent and puts a bedroll on the ground, gesturing for you to sit down with him. 

"You hungry?" he asks, but you shake your head.

"Just tired."

Arthur nods, taking turns looking at you and the fire. "What have you been doing out here, if you don't mind me asking?"

You take a deep breath. "Being an idiot. I was looking for a way to make money. Should have known better than to run around in Murfree country with night approaching."

"So, you're desperate," Arthur says. It's not a question.

"Guess I am," you say with a shrug. "Can shoot something if I have to, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but those are pretty much all my skills right there."

"That's sometimes-" Arthur starts, but then his eyes fall onto your arm. "Are you bleeding?"

You look down yourself to where the machete cut you. Somehow you got used to the burning sensation and didn't notice the blood. "It's just a scratch."

"I thought I hit that machete," Arthur says honestly upset. If he counts that kind of shooting normal, you wonder what he does in his day to day life.

"You did. Saved my life actually," you say. "This I can deal with."

Arthur scoots closer, carefully pulling on the fabric around the cut. "That needs cleaning, maybe even stitches."

"I can't afford a doctor."

Arthur shrugs. "I work for free. If you let me take a look at it."

"Sure."

"Can you take that off?" Arthur says, nodding to your shirt before he walks over to his horse to roam around in his saddlebags. 

After you insisted that he call you mister, you can hardly act offended about the question. Still, you're not sure what to do. Your chest is almost flat but naked, there's still more than there should be for a guy of your stature. 

You take a deep breath, considering how quickly Arthur switched to calling you mister. Maybe it's not much of a deal to him. You unbutton your shirt and slide it off your shoulders. Arthur comes back with a bottle and a small bag, sitting down next to you.

"Now, let's see," he says, carefully touching your arm.

Your body grows hot, being exposed like that. Arthur ignores the rest of your body in favor of concentrating on your wound. 

"This might sting," he says, pouring alcohol over the cut. Then he hands you a strip of leather. "Might wanna bite down on this."

You take the leather and watch him prepare some needle and threat. Then you bite down on the leather when he brings the needle up to your arm. Although Arthur works quickly, you still have tears streaming down your face by the time he's done. You quickly wipe your eyes while Arthur puts his things away, and he comes back, holding out a fresh shirt to you.

"Here, take this," he says, "no need to put that bloody thing back on."

"Thank you," you say, acutely aware that this time, Arthur does look at your chest. 

There's nothing in his eyes that gives away what he thinks, but you're used to different reactions. The fact that he's not commenting on your body or tries to dispute that you're a guy already says a lot about him.

By the time the rain sets in, you feel safe enough around Arthur that you crawl into the tent with him, and tired as you are, you fall asleep in seconds.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :) Feel free to hit me up on Tumblr @[littlestarofthewest](http://littlestarofthewest.tumblr.com)


End file.
